It did not take long for that familiar feeling of inevitability to grip at the Stadio Olimpico – the one that would leave any observer of a mismatch so ridiculously lopsided wondering how this constitutes competitive international football rather than merely an open training session that pits eager attack against porous and prone defence. It had actually taken England 12 minutes to prise open the joint worst team in the world at this level, though the visitors had already forced a succession of corners and hit the bar by then. Warm-ups are supposed to fizzle out in around half an hour, not drag on for 90 minutes in front of a global audience.

For a warm-up is effectively all this was, the real focus already drawn to Podgorica and the far more awkward contest against Montenegro on Tuesday. England could revel in San Marino's many deficiencies, finding some bite and stocking up on confidence, but Roy Hodgson had dispatched his coach Gary Neville to Chisinau to scout the group leaders in their 1-0 victory over Moldova, with his own selection here defined by the challenge to come. The manager had cited his dilemma in the build-up, pondering whether it would be more beneficial to preserve the energy of his first-choice selection or establish some continuity in his line-up to carry them into the second tie. He appeared to have opted for the former.

It was easy to see why. Embarrassing the likes of Alessandro Della Valle or Davide Simoncini means precious little, even if the rewards gleaned by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ashley Young, Frank Lampard or Wayne Rooney, were classily constructed and impressively taken. Suppressing the threat posed by Andy Selva at the other end hardly constituted a triumph either, even if the forward is recognised as the greatest player in Sanmarinese history. Yet, of all the combinations picked here, the centre-half pairing of Joleon Lescott and Chris Smalling was arguably the one aimed most at developing an understanding ahead of Montenegro. Theirs was the seventh centre-back partnership Hodgson has utilised in England's last eight games. They may not have been tested here but they could at least grow used to playing alongside each other.

Of the quintet of players who had withdrawn from the manager's initial 26-man party, three had been central defenders. Rio Ferdinand was busy in Qatar describing the goal-glut for al-Jazeera. Michael Dawson and Gary Cahill, in contrast, are in rehabilitation at their London clubs. Theo Walcott, whose pace, like that of Aaron Lennon, might have been a real asset on Tuesday, had pulled up with a groin complaint in training at the stadium on the eve of the contest and had flown back home for treatment earlier in the day. Hodgson would surely have hoped to select him in the second of these games, aspiring to coax some of that form from Zagreb five years ago, though that plan has been jettisoned. Instead another forward line will most likely be thrust forward and, even after such a riotous success as this, there is no guarantee it will bear much resemblance to the combination who scarred San Marino.

Hodgson, after all, has been just as experimental up front – albeit with injuries playing their part – as he has at the back. His attacking line has seen six different permutations or combinations of personnel, in the eight games since Euro 2012. The trickiest games in the section, at home to Ukraine and away in Poland, had seen Jermain Defoe asked to operate as a lone forward and yet, in each, the team had laboured.

The Tottenham Hotspur forward does not appear a natural solitary striker. Indeed, the tap-in from Oxlade-Chamberlain's nod down – the diminutive Arsenal winger had out-jumped Mirko Palazzi at the far post, which pretty much summed up the mess that constituted the home defence – was actually his first goal for club or country since Boxing Day. Defenders have been snapping in on him back in the Premier League, aware of the threat posed by his trademark low back-lift and rifled shot. However, when he is isolated up front, the ball does not always stick. Logic suggests England will need that outlet on Tuesday night.

That suggests Danny Welbeck, a lone striker in Sweden but a wide-man against Brazil, might be employed in combination with Rooney in Podgorica. The Manchester United youngster had managed five shots at this level prior to this occasion, registering five goals en route, to feel far more of a fixture on this stage than he does at Old Trafford. Should he return to the line-up, together with the ever reliable James Milner, the captain Steven Gerrard, the steadying Michael Carrick and both first-choice full-backs, then there will be six changes on Tuesday night as England seek to scale Group H. Montenegro prevailed in Chisinau, despite Milorad Pekovic's dismissal just after the hour, courtesy of Mirko Vucinic's late winner. This was a distraction, a slaughter in Serravalle. The real test is to come.